Pro Bono and the Crisis in Indigent Defense
January 12, 2012
As The PBEye previously reported, many firms devote a great amount of pro bono time and resources to the defense of low-income individuals charged with crimes, often wrongfully. Inspiring recent examples by our Member firms and Challenge Signatories include: Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP* obtained a new trial for former death row inmate Erksine Johnson when a Tennessee appeals court vacated his 1985 felony murder conviction. The decision was a result of new evidence discovered by a Cleary team, made up of more than 25 firm lawyers, that over the past 15 years has spent at least 15,000 hours